And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them.
God's first order about the tribe of Levi is not about work. It is about washing. Two questions sit inside that short command. Why lift one tribe out from the rest of Israel? And why do men God has already chosen still need cleansing before they serve Him?
The Levites did the practical work of the tabernacle, God's tent among Israel. Aaron's family served as priests. Commentators read the two groups as two sides of one Christian life.
If Aaron and his sons represent the Church as a holy priesthood, offering up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, the Levites are a picture of the saints, set apart to God for His will and His service… Some prize above all else the privilege of being in God's presence as worshippers. Others count it the highest favour that God lets them serve. But the perfection of the Christian life lies in joining the two together… The one who most enjoys his priestly privilege will be the best qualified for his Master's service.
The Levites were not volunteers. God had already taken them in place of Israel's firstborn sons. Those were the sons He spared when judgment fell on Egypt. That earlier claim stands behind the command to take them now.
Jehovah took them in a very special way as the formal substitute for Israel's firstborn, the sons He spared when the destroying angel struck Egypt. Blood had redeemed them, and He counted them as belonging to Him in a marked way… So the Levites were tied to mercy — the great mercy that set Israel apart and rescued them from the doom of Egypt. That fitted them so much the better for the service of the sanctuary. Who can dare to take up the service of God without knowing that God has accepted him on the ground of redemption? Salvation comes before ministry…
The order to cleanse assumes something is wrong. Commentators find the trouble in Levi's own nature.
Looking at Levi by nature, we could see that his character was such that God would have no fellowship with him at all… But God will not leave him there. So God must Himself provide the remedy. God Himself must cleanse this self-willed, cruel and fierce man… Man's sin must always be brought into the presence of God's grace.
The cleansing that follows uses water, not blood. Commentators give a reason for that.
There is no mention of sprinkling with blood, as there was with the leper. The Levites already stand on the ground of redemption, and so in a recognised relationship with God. The question here is purification, not expiation, and so it is cleansing with water… In the full Christian sense, water means death. Washing here means applying death to all that we are as children of Adam, so that everything contrary to God is put out of the way… The blood has expiated our guilt. The water has cleansed us from our sinful condition by bringing it to an end in the cross of Christ.
The cleansing had two hands in it:
Moses first sprinkled the purifying water on them, but the Levites did the rest themselves: let them shave, let them wash, let them make themselves clean… Our first right desires after God began when the Spirit had done that work in our souls for us. Then a work done by us was to follow, as we see plainly in this picture. To shave all our flesh means, in New Testament language, cleansing ourselves from all defilement of the flesh (2 Cor. 7:1). To wash our clothes means separation from the circles we once moved in before the grace of God reached us.
Commentators turn this onto anyone who works for God today. The warning is about motive.
Self-will can never serve God; no, we must set it aside if we would know what true service is. Sadly, much of what passes for service would prove to be only the fruit of a restless will, if we judged it in the light of God's presence… The heart is so deceitful that we may imagine we are doing the Lord's work, when in reality we are only pleasing ourselves.
- Claimed — God's right to the Levites rested on redemption. They stood in place of the firstborn God spared in Egypt through blood. Salvation comes before service.
- Cleansed — The washing used water, not blood. These people already stood in relationship with God, so the need was purification, not expiation.
- Shared — Moses sprinkled the water, but the Levites shaved and washed themselves. The Spirit works in us first, and then we work.
- Shaved — Levi's own nature was cruel and fierce. Shaving means cleansing ourselves from the defilement of the flesh, because self-will can never serve God.
- Sent — Only then could they serve. Commentators read the Levites as a picture of every believer set apart for God's work. Nearness to God and practical service belong together.
And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them sprinkle upon them water of purification from sin; and they shall pass the razor over all their flesh, and shall wash their garments, and make themselves clean.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.